The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 7-Oct-54-Tantonville.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
In his 1997 book on the French wave of 1954, ufologist Jean Sider noted that on October 7, 1954, at 10:00 p.m., in Tantonville in the Meurthe-et-Moselle deprtment, a "close encounter of the second kind" took place involving four known witnesses, Raymond Seyller and Marcel Jeandel and their wives.
They drove in a car at the exit of Tantonville when they saw, at the place called La Forêt, on their left, a big luminous ball descending towards the ground, whose brightness became stronger as it was getting closer to the ground.
The ball rotated on itself and its shape changed to become hemispherical. Arrived on the ground, its brightness became stronger. This phenomenon is said to have been "between St. Gorgon and Praye-sous-Vaudemont."
Sider added that the next day, several residents found grass burned at the very place where the phenomenon had occurred.
He indicated that the source is an article in the newspaper Le Républicain Lorrain for October 9-10, 1954.
[Ref. jsr1:] JEAN SIDER:
Ufologist Jean Sider notes that on October 7, 1954, at 10:00 P.M., in Tantonville in the Meurthe-and-Moselle, a close encounter of the second kind took place implying four known witnesses, Raymond Seyller et Marcel Jeandel and their spouses.
They were driving in a car at the exit of Tantonville when they saw, at the location La Forêt, on their left, a large luminous ball going down towards the ground, whose luminosity became stronger as it approached the ground.
The ball swivelled on itself and its shape changed to become hemispherical. Arrived at the ground, its luminosity became stronger. This phenomenon was happening between St Gorgon and Praye-under-Vaudemont.
Sider adds that the following day, several residents found burned grass at the exact place where the phenomenon had landed.
He indicates that the source is an article of the newspaper Le Republicain Lorrain of October 9-10, 1954.
[Ref. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN:
Luc Chastan indicates that in the Meurthe et Moselle in Tantonville on October 7, 1954, at 22:00 hours, "Four witnesses who drive by car, saw a large luminous ball going down towards the ground, whose luminosity became stronger as it approached the ground. The following day, one found burned grass at the place where the phenomenon had been posed."
Luc Chastan indicates that the source is my website at "http://ufologie.net".
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We have elements to verify an astronomical misinterpretation: the date is October 7, 1954, the hour 10:00 p.m., the place the exit of Tantonville (48° 28' 7'' N, 6° 8' 19'' E) at a place called "La Forêt".
I did not find this location, but in 2019 I see that the only exits of Tantonville being in or towards a forest, are the D913 or "Robert Chanel street" towards the South, the D9 or "road of Haroué", going to Haroué in the East, and the rue de l'Etang, going south-east in the middle of the fields, a less logical road for a car trip at 10 p.m.
We are told that the phenomenon was in the direction "between" Saint-Gorgon and Praye-sous-Vaudemont. Saint-Gorgon is 40 km from Tantonville, east-southeast, 112°. "Pray-sous-Vaudémont" does not exist, the newspaper must have misunderstood. There is Praye, 4 km south-west (211°) of Tantonville, and Vaudémont, 8 km southwest (226°) of Tantonville. The direction Praye and the direction Vaudémont are practically the same from Tantonville, and Vaudémont is indeed "sous" ("under") Praye, so to speak.
The choice of such far-off landmark places suggests that the witnesses drove quite a long way, observing the object for a long time.
This poses a problem for an astronomical explanation, since the direction proves to be very approximate: between South-West and East-South-East...
The elevation is given, close to 0, since the object is said to have come down and "landed".
We have the Moon, at 201° but at 10 p.m. it was still quite high: 24°, and will not go below the horizon until midnight thirty. Mars would be a better candidate, it was 219°, and only 7° elevation, setting behind the horizon at 11 p.m.
Mars would be the "least worst" astronomical explanation...
This explanation is not proven and not entirely convincing. We are told of a landing place and burned grass... But unfortunately none of the relevant information on this matter is given: where was this trace? (We have a "direction" given by landmarks distant by tens of kilometers!) The residents of what place found this trace? Did the witnesses stop, or did they drive? What was the angular size of the ball? Etc. etc.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Tantonville, Meurthe-et-Moselle, multiple, car, road, field, large, ball, luminous, trace, grass
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | November 28, 2005 | First published. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | May 6, 2009 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. Additions [lcn1]. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | October 11, 2019 | Explanations changed, were "Not looked for yet." |
